Tim Hamilton Menswear S/S10

The New York designer showed for the first time in Paris with a collection of reworked shirts and unusual fabric techniques.

Tim Hamilton might be the poster boy for New York City coolness, but this is Paris dahling, and time to prove yourself. Moving show city can be stressful at the best of times – new audience, atmosphere and expectations – but for Hamilton it seemed even more daunting. “Did they like it out there?” was one of the first things Tim worryingly asked when Dazed made its way backstage. Sure they did!

How often do you see someone try to alter the shape and function of a white shirt? Well, Hamilton did it by not only making it collarless, but also adding a deep V-neck to it. Additionally he gave it a front tail, as opposed to the more common backside version. Others had adjustable waists, enabling the wearer to decide shape and form.

Add to all that his unusual choice of fabrics (key words include industrial, vinyl, intergalactic dust and wax) and you have quite an Paris opener. The collarless trend continued on trench coats, some of them cut daringly low on the chest. There was a shiny and shimmery feel to the collection due to the vinyl and silver, but that was in certain parts levelled by the masculinity of utility belts. For a designer who has worked with both American high street kings (Michelle Obama favourites J.Crew and polo shirt giants Ralph Lauren), this was far from a commercially viable collection. But perhaps Hamilton wanted to take on Paris with blazing guns? Well, guessing won’t get us anywhere, so we asked…

Dazed Digital: How is it showing in Paris compared to across the pond?

Tim Hamilton: This is an extreme high, this is like the real deal. No offence to New York but Paris is better – there is so much going on back to back, there’s a certain pace to it and everyone that was invited turned up.

DD: What was the red thread going through the collection?

Tim Hamilton: The idea was to keep my New York roots - the well-suited and dressed-up look, which I brought to Paris with toxic-coated material in a minimal style.

DD: You re-worked the white shirt quite heavily for this collection, didn’t you?

Tim Hamilton: I’ve been doing the standard shirt for some time now, the one that your mother makes you wear, and I thought ‘why not re-invent some new shapes’ so it’s almost like the longer shirts become outerwear when they’re layered. With the different necklines I just wanted something a bit more modern.

DD:It was all very dark and monochrome – any chance of colours next time?

Tim Hamilton: I love colour, but this time around, with the fabrics I was using, it was more suitable in darker tones. I did inject some royal blue and a bit of navy, but I really felt like the palette should be quite sombre. But I do like to experiment, so who knows for the future!

DD: What was your favourite piece from this collection, what would you have bought for yourself as a customer?

Tim Hamilton: I’d buy some of the outerwear, the coated and crackled pieces that appear to be leather.